Android's Holy Grail Allegedly Leaked in eBay Screw-Up

Like an Antiques Roadshow guest who didn't know what treasure he possessed, one lucky eBay buyer has allegedly stumbled upon something glorious -- and Google subsequently did its best to destroy it remotely.

The story goes like this: A guy purchased a Nexus S off of eBay. After receiving the Android device and firing it up, he noticed the OS it was running was unlike the Gingerbread typically found on the Nexus S. Sure enough, after checking the version number, the man realized he was in possession of a smartphone running an unreleased version of Android dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich.

Said to bridge the gap between the smartphone-focused Gingerbread and the tablet-focused Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich is thought to launch sometime in the next two months and come featured on the highly anticipated Nexus Prime.

The lucky eBay buyer leaked photos and footage to Engadget. The alleged, unreleased OS sports a Google Apps tray on the homepage which opens to reveal Google's line of mobile apps. Long-pressing the Home button invokes a revamped vertical multi-tasking screen, complete with screenshots. True to Google's promise, the look and feel shares aesthetic similarities between Gingerbread and Honeycomb while being an evolutionary update to the two platforms.

If not the real deal, it's a fake that's very, very well-executed.

After sharing his story with Engadget, the anonymous tipster was remotely targeted by Google's Men in Black who remotely wiped and locked the smartphone from their headquarters. The owner is now seeking tech assistance on the XDA Developers forums to get the phone back up and running.